Signalis is not only a classic survival horror game but also a psychological horror story with elements of cosmic horror, so what I write here will only be the surface. To find out what this game really is, you’ll have to play it for yourself.
Signalis is a melancholy, atmospheric horror story set in a rewritten sci-fi world.
You are Elster, a Replika technician who wakes up from stalling to discover that her spaceship has landed and pilot Ariane Yeong, the only person on board, is missing. Elster soon finds something hidden beneath the planet’s icy surface that shouldn’t be there, and receives a mysterious radio signal that changes everything.
Driven by a promise to her lost mate, Elster comes across a seemingly abandoned mining and training facility, where she is confronted by horribly contorted figures trudging across the land. corridor and attack immediately.
As she delves deeper into the facility and mines, she meets another Replika with a dark agenda, a young woman with her own burdens to bear, and strange images of memories from a past life. other.
The world of Signalis is a barren and desolate place with concrete walls and noisy CRT screens – a world where the Eusan dictatorship once existed through surveillance, bureaucracy, and propaganda.
As Elster enters the mysterious government establishment, she must find creative ways to bypass its many bureaucratic defenses. She must use her radio to decode messages, unlock doors via codes and keycards, and solve logic-based puzzles.
When developing these puzzles, it was important to us that the solutions were not absurd or far-fetched, but made sense both for the game’s world and for the players. For example, at a time, several parts of a tool had to be combined to make it usable, or a chemical had to be used to dissolve something that matched the specifications. its real world.
Emphasizing a Cold War-inspired setting, Signalis features real digital station records.
Digital stations have been in use since World War I and transmit coded messages via shortwave radio signals, often in the form of morse code or synthetic speech. The content and sender of these digital stations are unknown to this day. Most likely, many of these telegrams were sent by secret services to their agents.
Fans of cassette futurism can look forward to handling floppy disks, self-developed images, and old-fashioned operating systems displayed on clunky CRT screens. The latter is also reflected in the game’s inventory.
You’ll spend some time in this luggage, as Signalis is a love letter to classic PS1-era survival horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Resources like ammo and health items are scarce and what you can carry is limited, although the storage box allows you to swap items as needed. To conserve resources, you will have to decide when is the best time to fight or flee.
The game’s clean, stylized visuals are an homage to the sadism and technology of the 80s, and are subtly contrasted with the mystical themes. Our slow-paced but intense directing style is inspired by the works of Stanley Kubrick, Hideaki Anno, and David Lynch, reflected in the game’s almost experimental cutscenes and apple typography violent. We were also influenced by the artistry of mangaka Tsutomu Nihei, particularly noticeable in Replikas’ predominantly black designs and carefully placed contrasting elements.
We’ve taken great care in creating an unsettling atmosphere, soaring soundscapes and a layered story that will hopefully stay with you even after the game’s end.
Signalis will be available worldwide on PS4 on October 27, 2022.
